


The Lady of Lazuli Lake

by ItFeelsSoWrite



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Medieval Human AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-21
Updated: 2016-08-15
Packaged: 2018-05-08 07:11:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5488334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItFeelsSoWrite/pseuds/ItFeelsSoWrite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pearl, on her way to the Quartz Kingdom to celebrate Prince Steven's birthday, comes across Lapis in the Quartz Forest. Hopelessly lost, Lapis agrees to help Pearl find her way out of the forest, learning about and steadily falling for the trusting bard in their travels. As they come across Lazuli Lake, the mystery of Lapis and her intentions come to the light of day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lost and Found

**Author's Note:**

  * For [knight_tears](https://archiveofourown.org/users/knight_tears/gifts).



> Hello all! It's been awhile and I apologize for that. The holidays have kept me both busy and stressed, which is a terrible combination for writing fanfiction. "Everything Stays" is still very much in the works, but I got side-tracked with this wonderful side project, intended as a birthday gift for the lovely and talented AkinaAkhai! It's terribly belated and not even done. I hope to have it finished in an additional two installments, but if you've read my previous fics, you know to take that with a grain of salt. AkinaAkhai has graciously given me her blessing to post this work on AO3 for everyone to enjoy. So enjoy!

It astounded Pearl how little of the Quartz Forest she actually knew. Sure, it had been nearly a decade and a half since the last time she found herself venturing through its towering trees, but it used to be as familiar to her as the back of her hand. At least the traveled path and its immediate surroundings. Everything else was as foreign to her as the lands beyond the seas, so of course it would be her luck to begin discovering them on this trip, with time so hotly at her heels.

Rotating the map in her hands, Pearl scowled first at the papyrus and then up at her surroundings, looking for similarities that seemed to simply not exist. Prince Steven's sixteenth birthday was fast-approaching and though Pearl had given herself ample time to travel to the Quartz Kingdom to present her ode at his celebration, she had already lost two days' time; one to the misfortune of a spooked pack mule, who ran with the bulk of her belongings beyond her retrieval. Though she tailed it as far as she could, picking up dropped sundries like bread crumbs along the way, night crept upon her and forced her to cease her search. The next morning found her lost and her rations halved. Consulting her map, she picked a direction to hunt in, hoping to kill two birds with one stone, quite literally, by hunting her way back to the beaten road. Wiley squirrels and time-swept markers saw to it that she accomplished neither, wasting yet another afternoon with nothing to show for it.

Dropping the map from her vision, Pearl rolled her eyes up to the canopy, noticing the dying light spilling through the leaves. She had skipped breakfast and lunch in hopes for a meatier supper, but it was quickly becoming apparent that breads and fruits would be the only thing on the menu. That was, until a rabbit's scream pierced the air. Pearl whipped her head in the direction of her wire snare, set as a desperate last attempt. A large, pepper-furred coney kicked furiously at the air, its foot ensnared. Rushing to the trap, Pearl knelt and bundled the rabbit close to her chest, minimizing its struggle as best she could before freeing its foot. Taking both of its flailing back legs in her hand while simultaneously pressing the thumb of her other at the base of its neck, Pearl squeezed her eyes shut and looked away before breaking the animal's neck with a sharp, clean twist. A shuddered exhale left her with the extinguishing of its life, Pearl's fingers loosening from its chin to press against its pulse point, making sure the heart had ceased beating. Only when she was sure it had died quickly did Pearl open her eyes again to examine the body laying limply in her arms. Its girth promised she wouldn't have to hunt again, so long as she could right her path in the morning. She promised she would, for her sake and the sake of the rabbit's kin, before setting to the task of building a fire and cleaning her meal. 

The rabbit was spit-roasted by nightfall, the queasiness of Pearl's kill ebbing away as hunger gnawed at its edges. Eating to the sound of crickets and the crackling fire, Pearl consulted her map yet again by the flickering light, hoping a full stomach would help clear the frustrated haze of the day and make sense of the sketch before her. But by the time her meal was ate and her hunger satisfied, a lulling drowsiness coaxed her to the arguable comfort of her bedroll. Without a blanket, Pearl curled into herself, tucking her legs beneath the length of her cloak. Facing the fire, Pearl focused only on its warmth as she counted the odd pops of the splintering kindling like sheep jumping fences. One, two, three, four . . . 

\- - - - -

Pearl awoke the next day to ashes and birdsong, a light groan leaking from dried lips and throat as her eyes blinked slowly open. A rustling at her back went momentarily disregarded before its implications startled her to action, bolting her upright to turn her head toward the sound. Staring back at her, frozen mouth stuffed to the cheeks with the same bread clutched in both her hands, was a young woman knelt before Pearl's travel pack. Her startled and guilty eyes roved for potential exits before falling back on Pearl, waiting for the strawberry-blonde to make a move either from or toward her. Pearl, just as shocked, remained just as still, finding herself oddly entranced by the stunning stranger, with her raven hair and impossibly deep blue eyes. Her tanned skin was impeccably clean, leaving Pearl to wonder why a woman so unmarred would be wolfing down the last of her food like a starved animal. The striking stranger swallowed the mush in her mouth, her apprehension slowly giving way to curiosity as Pearl continued to try and make sense of her.

"Do you have any more?" The stranger spoke, voice more youthful than Pearl would have expected, and entirely absent of shame. What gall! And yet Pearl could only find herself apologetic for not having more to give. With Pearl yet to reply, the dark-haired woman finished the bread in her hands, making them free to continue rummaging through Pearl's belongings. The stranger would bring each item her fingers grazed out from the depths of the pack to examine, only to place them back in disinterest as she determined them inedible. Pearl continued to let her until the bold thief brought a peach pit to her eye level, squinting at it before attempting to pry it open like a walnut. 

"Don't do that! That is precious! And not edible, I promise!" Pearl shouted urgently, nearly standing to her feet before the stranger withdrew her arms to her chest, toes digging into the ground in preparation to bolt. Pearl stayed her advance, bringing her palms up in a yielding display as she settled back down to her knees. "Please, just put it back in the bag."

"What is it?" the dark-haired woman asked, inspecting it with a more thorough eye before bringing it to her nose to sniff. It was vaguely aromatic and made her stomach rumble.

"A peach pit," Pearl answered post-haste, hoping to satisfy the stranger into compliance of her request. The blue-eyed beauty quirked an eyebrow, looking past the pit to Pearl. 

"This is precious?"

"To me. It . . . it has sentimental value." The stranger seemed to memorize each wrinkle in the nutty seed before her palm closed around it.

"Why?" 

Pearl tried her best to stifle her distress, eyes remaining on the stranger's closed palm as she recounted distractedly. "It's the pit from Prince Steven's first peach. I helped him pick it in the royal gardens before we shared it. It's the only remnant of my memories with him." The stranger unfurled her fingers to regard the pit a moment longer before extending it to Pearl. Slowly at first, but then promptly as it became apparent the stranger was comfortable with her approach, Pearl crawled the short distance between them and retrieved the pit from the stranger's hand, tucking it into the satchel at her waist for safekeeping. Stretching her calves from beneath her, Pearl brushed the clinging dirt from her knees and then her hands. "I'm afraid you ate the last of my food." 

The stranger seemed to take Pearl's word for it, ceasing her search of Pearl's knapsack with a wistful sigh as she cast her eyes to the cleaned bones of the rabbit Pearl had consumed last night. "You can catch another?"

"And whom would I be doing this for, exactly?" Pearl insisted.

The stranger smiled coyly with a lick of her lips, already imagining the taste of coney, no doubt. "My name is Lapis of Lazuli Lake. And yours?"

"Pearl of Quartz, at least long ago. Now I am simply Pearl, traveling bard."

"You were a denizen of the kingdom . . . and close enough to royalty to sup with the prince." Suspicion laced Lapis' words as she put them together, thinking better of her relaxing demeanor as she studied Pearl closely. "And now you eat rabbits and sleep on the ground. You're an exile. The question is, why?" Pearl's eyes widened before she broke into a small fit of hysterical laughter, quick to cover her mouth and stifle it at the first opportunity. Lapis' stern brow gave way to concerned befuddlement.

"I'm not an exile! Though I can see why you would think me so. No, I left of my own will." Lapis looked no less confused.

"Why?"

Pearl smiled dismissively as she gathered to her feet and stood. "While it is feasible that I could catch you a rabbit, I really haven't the time." She outstretched a hand to Lapis' aid which went ignored as Lapis insisted on helping herself up. Pearl retracted her hand, using the slight to excuse her own lack of manners in collecting her belongings as she continued to speak. "I'm very lost as it is. I suspect even with luck on my side, my performance for the prince will be a belated one." Shouldering her knapsack, Pearl bundled up her flimsy bedroll and slipped the bound bedding beneath the shoulder straps, rolling her neck and shoulders until the bulky fabric laid somewhat comfortably against her back. She reached for her map, pinned in place by round pebbles where she left it the night before, but Lapis was quicker. Plucking up the parchment, Lapis fell a few steps back, making some distance between she and Pearl as she poured over the cartograph.

"The prince? So you're returning to Castle Quartz?" Lapis glanced up, catching Pearl's curt nod. Returning her attention to the map, Lapis tapped her index finger atop it. "I know where we are. More precisely, I know where we are in relation to your destination. I could help you find your way out of the forest."

"You can?" Pearl's peeved expression melted away. "I mean, would you?"

"Perhaps. When is the prince expecting you?"

"Oh. Well. I suspect he is not, if he even remembers me. I uh, was hoping to surprise him. His birthday is a moon out, if I haven't lost my sense of time with the rest of my belongings." Lapis smiled.

"I can have you on the path to the gates by morning." Pearl bounced on her heels excitedly, clasping her hands together up near her chest at such heartening news. "That is . . ." Lapis added before Pearl's celebration could include the strawberry blonde dashing to her new guide's side. Pearl deflated the slightest bit in anticipation of the catch, but her bright eyes were still alert with hope. "If you catch me a meal." Pearl's face fell the slightest, but she was not at all surprised by the terms. 

"I am not the best huntress. We could find ourselves in this clearing for the better half of sunlight. What if instead you were to accompany me into the kingdom? I could buy you a meal and a room in the tavern." Loosening the drawstring of her waist pouch, Pearl plunged her hand into what sounded distinctly of coins as she palmed a handful of the silver pieces to present to Lapis. "Or I could simply pay you--"

"No!" Lapis snapped, backing away from the shiny metal coins as if Pearl were brandishing fire, her eyes fixed on the offensive currency before Pearl made the odd connection and stowed them away. Lapis' eyes came back up to Pearl's and seeing the woman's perplexity within, quickly gathered her composure, exhaling the last of her upset. "I-- I'm sorry. I can't set foot in the kingdom. Your coin is no good to me." 

Pearl re-evaluated their options with a sympathetic frown, willfully ignoring the gnawing question of "why" that Lapis seemed to wield most liberally herself. The less she knew, perhaps the better. She knew what she needed. Of all her belongings, including her life, Lapis only took her food. Of all the directions Pearl could blindly stumble in, only Lapis knew the right one. She believed this to be true. That was enough for Pearl. 

Bending at the knee, Pearl reached down into the legging of her calf-high boot, withdrawing a corded sling. She let it untangle itself with its own weight, holding on to only one side of the cord and dropping the other as she rummaged through a considerably smaller pouch beside her coin purse. Rolling a smooth pebble up her palm into her fingertips, Pearl held it up to eye level. "How do you feel about pheasant?"


	2. Two Birds, One Stone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl makes good on her deal with Lapis, procuring a delicious meal in exchange for Lapis' guidance out of the forest. In the interim, Pearl sings the song she's been preparing for Prince Steven.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Steven Bomb, everybody! I must apologize again for the drastic dip in my fanfiction productivity. All projects are definitely still on the stove, just on backburners as I recover from the holidays. But I could not NOT honor this momentous return of brand new Steven Universe! So please, read! Enjoy! Get jazzed up for some CANON RUPPHIRE! And enjoy the less canon but totally wondrous Pearlapis.

Lapis had agreed to get them on their way, the mere mention of fowl setting her mouth awash in anticipation. Anticipation that was waning with every sailing stone to whistle in the air without a satisfying crack and thud to follow. Pearl was absolutely right. She was not a huntress in the least bit. Why she even owned a sling when the only thing she had managed to hit was the back of Lapis' head in an embarrassing ricochet was beyond Lapis. Just like her hunger. And very soon, just like her patience. 

Not paying attention, tangled in the red blanket of her growing temper, Lapis' chest collided with Pearl's outstretched arm. Lapis had half the mind to sate her hunger on another white meat entirely, easily imagining sinking her teeth into the offending arm before recognizing the bard was motioning for Lapis to stop and drop, lowering to her haunches as she pressed a finger to her shushing lips. Lapis followed her lead, trailing Pearl's line of sight as Pearl notched a stone in the bed of her sling. Just ahead, perched on a low-hanging branch was a particularly fat pheasant, eyes closed and head lulled in its neck in relaxed slumber. Standing just the slightest to give the sling the space it needed to swing, Pearl whirled the sling close to her hip, brow creased in the utmost concentration before she let the stone fly. Lapis' yelp of joy nearly masked the sickening crack of fragmenting bone as the pebble killed the bird on impact. It slanted to the right before toppling from the branch, wings still neatly tucked to its side as it hit the ground. Pearl let out the breath that she had held and it was like a gunshot, spurring Lapis forward in a rush to retrieve her kill. 

Grabbing the limp bird by the neck, Lapis crossed her legs and tugged it into her lap, wasting no time in setting to the task of depluming the fowl. Plucking the tail feathers first with a precise pincer of her thumb and index fingers and a quick, controlled twist of her wrist, Lapis held them above her head, looking back over her shoulder at Pearl who approached to join her. "Do you want to keep these? The quills in your pack are looking a little worse for wear." Pearl looked simultaneously offended and touched that the consideration would even cross Lapis' mind.

"Yes, thank you," Pearl accepted the handful of feathers from Lapis, freeing her to continue plucking the trickier quills. Lapis could feel Pearl's presence linger behind her, her eyes not so much scrutinizing Lapis' work as they were wondering how Lapis knew how to pluck so skillfully. She could practically hear the question dance on Pearl's tongue, like so many others, but the overly-accommodating bard opted yet again to leave Lapis be. This both pleased and disappointed Lapis, who was beginning to question if her only worth to the woman was as a way out of the forest. Was she not worth knowing? Was her piquing of Pearl's interest really so marginal? "I'll set up the fire and spit." Her swift fingers stumbled at Pearl's statement, returning to form with sluggish dejection. 

Lapis plucked the rest of the bird in pointed silence, secretly aching for Pearl to hear the loudness and to break it. But the bard must have been used to the quiet, funnily enough. A bard. A conduit of song and epic, content with the peaceful unhappenings of mechanical motions. Scraping the last bits of down from the naked pheasant's chest with more force than necessary, Lapis stood in a huff and marched the bird to Pearl's side, thrusting it by its neck in Pearl's face. It dangled menacingly, startling Pearl from the depths of her thoughts. She fell from her heels to her bottom, nearly taking the spit she had just erected above the slow-starting fire down with her. 

"You're very trusting," Lapis stated ambiguously, taking a seat opposite Pearl after the pheasant had passed hands. Pearl glanced up at Lapis briefly as she laid the bird down on a clean sheet of papyrus, readying her gutting knife at its neck.

"Do I have reason not to be?" Lapis scoffed as the bird's head was severed, Pearl's attention returning to the preparation. 

"And I would tell you if you did?" Pearl looked up once more, this time lingering on Lapis in an effort to determine what it was she was missing in Lapis' petulant round-about. The attention was welcomed and resented, what Lapis wanted but too late with too much prompting. Lapis knew she was being difficult, but she hardly remembered how to interact with others any longer. Especially maddeningly kind others. 

"I would hope so," Pearl replied earnestly after a beat. 

Or was it maddeningly dense?

With a sigh, Lapis changed the subject. "It seems you have a propensity for getting lost. Where were you just then?"

"Pardon?"

"In your thoughts." Pearl smiled softly, setting to gutting their meal as she spoke.

"I was wondering how Rose-- Queen Rose, that is, how she must look now. And if Prince Steven inherited her curls or Gregory's unkempt mane."

"King Gregory," Lapis corrected. Pearl nodded and corrected herself.

"King Gregory."

"You knew the royal family intimately then?" Lapis noted the light blush blossoming in Pearl's cheeks as the woman cleared her throat.

"I knew Rose. We grew up alongside one another. My father was a trusted knight of her father, the late King Lambret. Those who saw us together and didn't know any better assumed we were sisters. We were certainly close enough. Our routines hardly differed before Rose came of age. After that, matters of the kingdom became paramount . . . that and Gregory."

"King Gregory."

"King Gregory," Pearl conceded with less enthusiasm. 

With the bird gutted, Pearl speared it across the spit and laid it over the fire. Holding her bloodied hands up and away from her, Pearl searched for her waterskin, nudging her head in its direction as she asked, "Would you mind?" Lapis retrieved the waterskin, offering it to Pearl, who instead of taking it, splayed her hands in presentation. Lapis caught on, uncorking the bladder and tipping it until a small but steady stream spilled out. Pearl cupped and scrubbed her hands beneath, flicking the moisture from her hands as she finished. Lapis recorked the waterskin and gave it a small shake, frowning as Pearl dried her hands down the lengths of her trouser legs. 

"Help yourself, "Pearl encouraged, returning to the spit to give it a rotate. Lapis, taking a seat beside Pearl, handed the skin over to the taller woman. 

"You should have the rest. I haven't seen you take a drink since you woke." Pearl accepted the waterskin, her face falling into concern the second she felt how light it was in her hand. 

"Of course," Pearl groaned, wetting her lips as she realized just how thirsty she actually was. She glanced sideways, opening her mouth to gallantly insist the last of her water be Lapis', but Lapis was once again a step ahead of her, pushing the waterskin to Pearl's chest.

"Drink." Lapis insisted. Pearl uncorked the waterskin and titled her head back, the very last drop hardly accumulating into a mouthful before Pearl swallowed. Seeming hesitant to tell as she watched Pearl place the drained waterskin aside, Lapis informed, "There is a lake nearby, not too far off our path."

"But my map--"

"Is rubbish. Honestly, it's not a wonder you found yourself lost."

"How far off the path?" 

"Not very. The time we would spend getting there would easily be made up for in the pace we could keep fully quenched." Smiling at their fortune, Pearl rotated the bird once more, letting her worry ebb away. But where Pearl's waned, Lapis' waxed, a grimness stiffening her visage, gone unnoticed as Pearl returned to seeing nothing but Rose. 

The roasting skin of the bird was beginning to fill the clearing with the most savory of aromas, Pearl having rubbed the bird down with a mix of spices Lapis had overlooked in her scrounge-through of Pearl's knapsack. The spices did not smell of the Quartz Kingdom, but of lands far beyond the reaches of Lapis' knowing. Lands she yearned to traverse and taste.Yet even as she salivated, her once-ravenous stomach turned and twisted within her. Distraction was in order. Fast.

"Play me the song you've prepared for Prince Steven," Lapis prompted. Pearl looked up from the spit, pleasantly surprised at the request. An apologetic half-smile flickered across her lips.

"I have not had the chance to finish it. I was composing it along my journey, but my donkey ran away with the parchment I was drafting upon. And my lute."

"What an ass," Lapis sympathized with a tug of a smile, which grew as Pearl's face lit up at the pun, leading into a soft, appreciative laugh. Lapis' smile lingered at the euphonious sound. "Now is as good a time as any to work on it. You'll be out of the forest before you know it."

Pearl nodded at Lapis' truth, eyes glancing up in memory recall as she sorted through the bramble of words and phrases she could remember, doing her best to straighten them out in one long, lyrical trail. Her hand abandoned its station at the spit stick, both coming together in front of her at opposite ends of an imaginary lute. The fingers of her left hand settled higher in the air than the fingers of her right, which lined nearly horizontal just beneath her breast. She closed her eyes as she imagined the melody, her fingers mimicking the movements it would have taken to evoke the sounds in her head, and suddenly the lyrics she had written were coming out of the woodwork to make themselves known.

"Young prince of Quartz and   
young prince of fire  
Forged from the bellows  
of young lover's choir

For long have I wondered  
How great you would be  
For long have I traveled  
To come and to see

Anon is the hour of prince you will be  
No longer, the boy I had held to the tree  
Now a king in the waiting,  
with kingdom so kind  
Now a king not by title,  
but in body and mind

To you I implore what you already know  
Be as your mother,  
and the goodness she sows  
Be as your father,  
and face every foe

But be as yourself, oh sweet little boy  
Above all the rest, keep your pure joy"

Lapis watched entranced as the purity of Pearl's voice trailed off in the last note of her song. Pearl's perfectly positioned fingers fell out of their mime as her eyes opened slowly, an immediate blush rosying her cheeks as Pearl was reminded she had been playing for someone. Lapis felt herself blush too, like she had just been privy to something intimately private. Though she was certain the lute would have been an amazing accompanist with how expertly Pearl's fingers had played against the air, Lapis was almost grateful to the runaway donkey for allowing the opportunity to hear Pearl's naked voice. 

"I am afraid that is all I remember," Pearl apologized sheepishly, busying her distractingly idle hands with the spit once more, removing the crisping bird from the fire. In Lapis' silence, she glanced at the raven-haired woman, who still seemed lost in the performance that was given. Placing the roast pheasant on a bed of parchment to cool, Pearl turned inward to face Lapis, catching the woman's eyes with her own. "Where did _you_ go?"

Lapis came to with a blink, eyes focusing on Pearl before a rim of water at her eyelids obstructed her clarity. She turned away before Pearl could see, running her hands down her face to dry the pricks of tears in her eyes before looking back up. "For once in a very long time, somewhere else." Lapis blanketed her palm over the back of Pearl's hand resting between them. "Thank you."


	3. Reflection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lapis finds herself opening up to Pearl, experiencing emotions she long thought buried with her past, making it all the more difficult to take Pearl to the heart of the only home she's known.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! An update! I do apologize for the long waits between chapters. I'm in the process of moving to another state entirely and will be for the next month or so, saying goodbyes, packing and the like. But I want to assure you that this fic has been thought through to its end and I do have every intention of finishing it. The next chapter will be the last, if not the next to last. I hope it's worth the wait! 
> 
> Also, "Everything Stays" is being put on hiatus, if the inactivity of it hasn't already given that away. I accidentally but totally consciously picked up some other projects after starting "Everything Stays" and I'm a bit more invested in them at the moment. Also, judging by how this fic does by its end, I've considered continuing to write additional content in this medieval human AU. After "The Answer", I've been tempted to add some Rupphire in the mix. The styles just compliment so well. Anyway. 
> 
> As always, thank you for reading!

As scrumptious as the pheasant she feasted on proved to be, the sensational spices on her taste buds came second to the looks of curious concern Pearl would cast in her direction whenever she thought Lapis was lost in her meal. It was evident the questions were dancing at the tip of her tongue yet again and this time, Lapis had faith Pearl's curiosity would win out. She had, after all, barely eaten, her thoughts too busy gnawing at the oddities Lapis presented to take any real pleasure in the food Lapis seemed to enjoy so much more. Pearl had offered Lapis the lion's share of the bird after Lapis had eaten a single breast to the bone before Pearl could even make a dent in a leg. 

"I pray that it is not presumptuous of me to ask, but how have you come to know this forest so well?" Lapis smiled. Finally. Licking her lips clean, she tossed a freshly-stripped wing bone behind her shoulder, drying her fingers in the dirt at her feet before brushing them clean. 

"I live here. Have lived here for the majority of my life." Pearl did not seem surprised by this answer, but a sadness pulled her lips into a slight frown. She hesitated in continuing, but the conversation had already begun. 

"And do you live alone? It strikes me odd you are so available to escort me out of the woods. Is there no one waiting on you?" Lapis' smile dimmed, but she maintained a casual tone as she replied,

"I've been alone for quite some time." Lapis paused, considering her next words with care. Preservation cautioned her to curb her tongue, but the concept of vulnerability had become an increasingly tempting one in Pearl's presence. Conversation was what she had yearned for. Now that it was engaged, she knew it required kindling from both sides to spark into something meaningful. "Yours is the first song I've heard in nearly forty three years." 

Pearl's eyes widened in disbelief. Her mouth slacked open, but no sound came out as she wondered, confirmed, and wondered again for good measure whether she had heard correctly or not. 

"How . . . how is that possible?" Lapis watched as Pearl scrutinized every inch of her deceptively youthful appearance, becoming more confounded with every second. "You- I would not put you a day past twenty, though honestly you appear even younger than that."

"Eighteen, to be precise. Appearance-wise." Pearl stared so hard Lapis thought she might faint from the effort. Before that could happen, Lapis sought to shine some light on the impossible matter. "I look far younger than I am, it's true. There are magicks in these parts that one can harness if they are only so attuned." 

"You're . . . you're a witch?" Lapis nodded without a word, more invested in hearing Pearl's opinion on the matter than she was in directing it. "I-I've never encountered a witch before. A warlock once in the king's court, but even he was only a glorified herbalist and self-proclaimed alchemist with the gift of sleight of hand. He never did discover the elixir for eternal youth. And I _know_ he kept flint up his sleeves." A thought occurred to Pearl, her surprise narrowing to scrutiny once more. "Is this a trick of some sort? What reason have you to lie about your age? Is this the part where you threaten to hex me, because I do not fear empty threats! I have nothing more to give than what I have willingly offered!"

It was Lapis' turn to find herself in hysterics. Her laughter started quietly, a surprised but tickled laugh through her nose that she felt in her throat. From there, it was infectious, spreading until she was laughing out loud, not entirely sure for which reason. Perhaps it was because the idea of Pearl bristling was just so laughable when all she had experienced from the gentle woman was an unobtrusive kindness. Perhaps more accurately, however, was that it was this of all things, to finally arm Pearl with caution. Not her thieving, nor their unfamiliarity, but an anecdotal understanding of magick and the logical inability to reconcile it with reality. And yet, she had shown Lapis nothing but trust. Human kindness was _far_ more elusive to Lapis than spells and enchantments. Pearl's defensive scowl melted away at the baffling display.

"I'm sorry," Lapis said through the tail end of laughter. "This is not funny." Pearl gawked.

"Then why do you laugh?"

"Because you make it possible." The statement sobered both of them, Lapis realizing that much like Pearl's song, this too had been a first in over four decades. She sensed that Pearl grasped this fact too, beginning to accept the validity in Lapis' earlier, unbelievable claim.

"You really are as you say."

"I am." Lapis hesitated. "Do you still trust me?" Pearl did not hesitate.

"I do." Lapis' lips curled in a ghost of a smile, but her eyes dulled with an unworthy sense of dread. To compensate, she forced her smile wider, standing before Pearl could identify the inauthenticity of it. As she did, she scooped Pearl's knapsack up along with her, slinging it over her shoulder.

"Then we should get moving. Time is of the essence." Lapis kicked dirt over their dwindling fire, snuffing out the last of the embers. Offering her hand to Pearl, she looked just south of Pearl's eyes, unable to meet them in good conscience.

\- - - - -

Though Lapis had been her guide since the morning, it was only now that the raven-haired enigma led the way, back quite confidently to Pearl as she kept a steady, but relentless pace. Pearl did her best to keep up, finding herself having to duck and weave through the increasingly thickening foliage much more than her shorter companion. Even with only the bedroll as her burden, Lapis insisting on carrying the rest of Pearl's load, Pearl lagged behind. With everything that had been shared over their meal, Pearl wondered if this was an active effort on Lapis' part to avoid casual conversation. 

Pearl had to admit, an entirely new slew of questions had cropped up as a result of the few scattered seeds Lapis had willingly offered. For one, who could maintain such a life of isolation for so long? And more importantly, why? What was the point of prolonged life if there was no one to live it with? What was the point of youthful beauty if there was no one around to take it in? No music. No laughter. Pearl's heart hurt for Lapis at the very thought. With the kingdom not only a day's travel away, why had Lapis never sought companionship of some kind? Surely the walls of the city were a more forgiving home than the wilds of the thick forest. For over forty years of living, Lapis' appetite suggested that she had not even managed to teach herself to hunt or harvest. What else was there to _do_ in all that time, without another soul for company? Cast magicks? To what end?

"It's just ahead," Lapis called back over her shoulder before pushing past a weave of low-hanging branches, disappearing behind them. Pearl rallied herself into a quick sprint to catch up, breaking through the branches into a most wondrous sight. Before them in the clearing was a magnificently clear lake, nearly green for all the foliage it reflected. A rudimentary dock from the shore extended twenty feet closer to the sizable lake's still-far center. Built on a small hill overlooking the thin line of sandy shore was a cabin, as old as the dock itself based on the weather wear of the wood. It too was small, a twenty by fifteen rectangle of sturdy efficiency, raised up on a foundation that one could crawl under if they had no fear of what could possibly sleep beneath. The checkered window panes were cracked and busted in places, but the porch was nearly immaculate. Where leaves covered most of the grounds, the porch was nearly flora-free - swept recently.

Lapis glanced back at Pearl before approaching the cabin, her entire stance relaxed in familiarity. 

"Is this where you live?" Pearl asked as she quickly fell in step behind Lapis, still looking all about. She had never, in all her years, encountered a lake in the Quartz Forest before. It seemed impossible that it could exist at such a size without anyone's acknowledgment. Lapis was right; the lake was nowhere on her map. Or any other map, if memory served correctly. 

"Mmhmm," Lapis replied, taking the porch steps in an easy stride. Opening the unlocked door, Lapis held it so for Pearl, offering a reassuring smile. "There may be some things inside that you could use for your journey." Pearl brightened at the kindness, stepping inside.

The amount of natural light spilling in through the windows illuminated most of the simplistic floor plan. There were no walls outside of the four sealing in the house, but rather sections that denoted the purpose of each space through belonging. Tucked against the far back wall, farthest from the windows, were two beds, nightstands between the both of them. A kitchen stove and a number of cluttered shelves were situated around a water basin. Above these were lines of rope, from which dried herbs and animal bones hung from twine. A rectangular wooden table with scores of knife marks and singes was nearby, partially cluttered. A sitting area had been placed around the cobblestone fireplace, where a stock pot hung suspended above charred logs. More herbs and animal pelts hung from strings tied up across the mantle, a bundle of chopped wood and fallen branches lined up against the wall making for a steady wood supply. Various tools were scattered about the place, mounted on walls or left loose on blood-stained surfaces. One table in particular had the unmistakable smell of fish worked into its very wood-grain. Pearl could trace the exact spots where the butcher knife came down to remove the heads of fish, their guts leaving burgundy blots. Nets and crates were stashed around and beneath the table, all covered in a thick layer of undisturbed dust.

The door creaked to a close as Lapis followed in, dropping Pearl's belongings on the kitchen table.

"Two beds," Pearl noted, the wistfulness in her voice rivaled only by her curiosity. 

"I wasn't always alone," Lapis responded simply, offering nothing else as she resigned herself to the rocking chair beside the fireplace. Leaning back, she kept a lazy eye on Pearl as the strawberry-blonde continued to acquaint herself with the space, until losing her behind her back. Not at all worried, Lapis closed her eyes.

"Do you fish?" Pearl asked, squatting down on her haunches to examine the skillful weave-work of a fish basket. 

"I can. I don't much care for fish, though," the very way Lapis swallowed her distaste gave Pearl a deeper insight to Lapis' appreciation of wild game. Living by the lake, Lapis' diet was undoubtedly lousy with fish. Pearl, however, could not remember the last time she supped on a filet. Confident the dusty equipment would get no further use otherwise, Pearl rummaged through the crates and baskets for any transportable tools. A shiny glint caught Pearl's eye, beckoning her to retrieve it from the shadowy depths. Carefully plucking the obscured object, Pearl brought the dangling contraption to her sight level. It was a fishing lure, dressed in colorful feathers, with a piece of mirror as its centerpiece, all wrapped together with dyed twine. With herself captivated, Pearl knew the lure would be an asset to any fishing pole. Standing, Pearl walked to the back of Lapis' chair, letting the lure dangle from above in front of her eyes.

"Then you would not mind if I take this?"

Lapis eyes opened and flickered up to the motion in front of her, her face instantly running white. She gripped the armrests of her rocking chair, tensing before telling herself not to, her petrified gaze locked on to the reflection in the shard of mirror. Staring back at her, wrinkled and graying, was herself, as she should be, forty three years older. Looking away, Lapis waved the object from her vicinity with a dismissive, "It's yours". Pearl pulled it back into her palm quickly, unsure of how she had but also wanting very much not to offend Lapis. She rounded the chair, observing the remnants of Lapis' fright before slowly backing into the chair opposite of her.

"Two chairs," Pearl noted once more as she eased back into her own. This chair was very old, perhaps older than herself, the grooves of the owner before her well-established in the seat. Whoever had sat here before was larger than herself, and larger than Lapis, who Pearl imagined claimed her usual seat out of habit.

Lapis looked on at her coolly, now thoroughly unimpressed with Pearl's intrigue. Pearl could feel it. Something akin to resentment, loathing, reluctance . . . but why now, in this place? Why now, when Pearl had been nothing short of invited? If she had overstepped, she could not for the life of her discover exactly where. Pearl shrunk in Lapis' disapprovement, doubting her very decision to take the seat of the stranger Lapis would not reveal. As the silence stretched into the unbearable, Pearl stood, watching Lapis' eyes upon her as she explained, "Well, I-- . . . I will fill the waterskin and we will be on our way. Thank you for the lure."

The edges of Lapis' stony expression grew harder with a brief clench of her jaw, but at the very least, she responded, "You're welcome". 

Pearl lingered where she stood, hoping Lapis would move to join her, but as the rocking chair remained starkly silent, Pearl knew she was to do so alone. Retrieving her waterskin from the table on the way out, Pearl welcomed the unjudging openness of the nature that greeted her. Turning her face up to the sun, Pearl felt the mild heat wick away a stray tear she had not realized she had shed. Lapis' indifference still sat in her chest like the dull ache of an intermittently limping heartbeat. She wondered how long she would carry such an injured thing, and continued to wonder why it had been struck so in the first place.

With the water lapping high against the dock, Pearl walked the length of the planks to the edge, if only for an excuse to prolong returning to the suffocating cabin. Uncorking the waterskin, Pearl knelt to her knees, beginning to bend over the lip of the dock's end before finding herself staring at a stranger. She quickly whipped her head over her shoulder, looking dead on at where a body ought to be to cast such a reflection. But there was no one. Pearl turned her head back to the water's surface where the stranger remained, crystal clear except for the mild distortions the wind-licked surface of the lake rippled through her. 

The woman was old. And stern. The set lines on her face suggested a life of unpleasantness. Where laughter lines and crow's feet would belong on even the mildly merry, this woman's face was sunken and sullen, jowls accustomed to a frown and brow permanently knit into a look of dissatisfaction. Her long, thin hair was graying, nearly white, and clung to her clothes like spider webs, specked with dirt and leaves from a lack of conscientious grooming. But perhaps most disturbingly striking of all was the fire in her otherwise milky eyes. They seared like angry coals, both black and crackling red with a desire to burn those who would look too deep. 

Pearl reached to dash the image away, but before her fingertips could break the surface, another set were wrapping themselves tightly about Pearl's shoulder. She fell back at the insistence of an urgent yank, barely catching herself on the butts of her palms before her back collided with the planks. She looked up, temporarily blinded by the brightness of the sky, before making out Lapis' silhouette looming above her, face stricken with dread and cheeks ruddy with tears.

"I can't do it! _You_ can't do it! Please! I'm so sorry."


	4. The Ties That Bind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth of who Lapis is and her motivations for leading Pearl to the lake come to light, as well as a truth of Pearl's own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, bet you never expected this story to update again. I apologize to any who grew invested and were forced to accept the fate of another incomplete dead-end. I moved, like I mentioned in earlier chapters and the adjustment period was really rough, and then I lost the muse for fanfiction entirely, trying to put whatever writing energy I had into my own works. It's very rare I ever return to anything I let sit out in the cold for so long, but this was a story I very much enjoyed and equally as important, a gift, now nine months late. I'm not sure if this is the end, but it is one step closer to some closure.

"Lapis!" Pearl's exclamation was more urgent than intended, the shock of both the fall and Lapis' sudden, stricken state stirring more alarm in her than she was able to quell. She pushed herself up to sitting, Lapis moving from above her to accommodate, placing herself between Pearl and the edge of the dock as she knelt to Pearl's level. "Lapis, what--"

"Pearl, I haven't been entirely honest with you," Lapis confessed quickly, riding on the momentum of her fright. Just as it had taken the acceptance of Pearl's fate to let her leave the cabin, it had taken Pearl's absence from her side to inform Lapis that this was a reality she would not bear. A cycle had begun with her here at this lake, and she would sooner have it end with her than perpetuate it through Pearl's unwitting kindness. She only hoped forgiveness was a possibility for her for ever having entertained her singular shot at freedom. "The other I lived with--"

"Was that her in the lake?" Pearl leaned forward to peer into the lake's surface again, but Lapis shifted defensively to block her, bringing Pearl's eyes to hers with a gentle but firm turn of her cheek.

"It was. And it wasn't. Pearl, please, listen to me fully," Lapis insisted, palm lingering at Pearl's cheek until the blush to blossom beneath her touch caused her to pull away. She felt proud, then ashamed, then the refinement of her resolve from iron to steel to be nothing less than honest to the woman she had found herself falling in love with. "I led you here under false pretense. The reflection you saw in the lake is my-- was my mentor. A witch, like me, but so much stronger. A witch I made a promise to. A promise I've yet to fulfill." 

Pearl's eyes widened as she settled back down, questions bubbling behind lips she kept shut in a thin, pensive line. The temptation to peek around Lapis' small, trembling frame was great, made greater with every word Lapis spoke, but never greater than her concern for the woman who looked a hair's breadth from falling apart, hugging herself to keep together. Lapis' eyes fell from Pearl's as she braved on, boring into the planks beneath them as if she could see the watery woman she knew to be on the other side. 

"You have to know. She wasn't always this way. We lived happily for a time in this very clearing, back before the kingdom was erected. Back when people belonged to the land and not the other way around. King Gregory's father-in-law was not nearly as gracious a king as his son-in-law. He was thoughtless and dismissive of those who did not recognize his rule." Lapis' trembling ceased as the rise of her anger made flee her fear. Her open palms folded into fists against the dock. "One day his soldiers marched upon our clearing and claimed my mistress' land in the name of King Lambret. We were evicted from our home, our hut gutted and re-purposed into a fishing shack. The fish from our lake fed the builders. The wood from the forest built the rafters and fueled the flames that kept his people warm as the walls were pieced together day by day. The kingdom was completed in five years, and in five years, we were allowed back into our home. Except now we were expected to pay a tax to our new king. Our lake was completely depleted. They had fished it dry. We were left with nothing and expected to give more, informed that the land we lived upon no longer recognized the generations of my mistress' ancestors who had settled it, but instead imaginary borders and the laws that governed within them." 

Lapis' knuckles, white with fury, blossomed with blood as she let go of her tension. Her tone now was no longer heated, but heavy, dampened with a sadness that mirrored in her desolate eyes as she rose them to find Pearl's attention just as rapt as when she began. "My mistress rarely smiled thereafter, and when she did, it was for the cruelties she would inflict on passersby on their way to the kingdom. Soldiers, citizens and visitors alike, young or old, man or woman. It didn't matter who or why they flocked to King Lambret's gates. In her eyes, they had all betrayed her, and continued to spit on her in their support of the thieving king. We never did earn the coin to buy back what had been ours to begin with. Every cent we managed to scrounge through the winters would be collected in taxes come the spring. Her health fled her rapidly. Her will to live even more so. Upon her deathbed, she bade me promise that I would take this land back and make it hers once more. I promised, if only to give her peace in her dying moments. After all, she had taken me in when I had nothing. But the truth was, I had outgrown this clearing. As thankful as I was to her, I wanted to see the world. I did not want to live the rest of my life holed away. I waited two weeks after she passed, to make sure the wolves wouldn't dig up her buried body. I walked to the end of the dock, paid my respects in the reflection of the lake. And that's when I saw her. Angry. Aware. She knew I was leaving. I felt cold, and then I felt wet, and suddenly I was flailing in waters I hadn't realized I'd fallen into. I dragged myself from out of the lake, warmed myself by the fire and by the time I had dried, it was night. So I stayed another moon in her home, guilty but still determined to make more of myself than a bleeding purse. Come morning, I left, but with every step, I grew tired. Sicker. My skin paled, my heartbeat slowed." Lapis draped a palm across her chest as she relived the sensation. "An icy grip wrapped its fingers around my heart. Every step I took away from that place, I was dying. I saw myself in a puddle on the path, but it was not me. It was her, glaring, accusing. I knew I had to go back. And with every step back, I began to feel better. I know now that my promise was a bolt through the heart of an albatross. She cursed me. I think they made her so bitterly possessive that she forgot that I was my own person, too. She chained me, her only living friend, practically a daughter, to land she cannot take with her."

With a wary sideways glance to the lake surface, Lapis gathered to her feet, offering a hand down to Pearl with a small shake of urgency. Pearl took it without hesitation, eyes never leaving Lapis' as she rose to stand with the unraveling enigma before her. Pearl was content to keep her hand in Lapis', but she felt Lapis disengage their clasp in favor of holding her arm to her chest with the hardest part of her confession yet spoken. "I wanted you to take my place. I just . . . I wanted to remember what it was like to be free. To see something new. But you were so kind, sharing everything you had with me. Meals. Company. Trust. You, who would travel for miles to sing to a boy who could not possibly remember you . . . you, so sentimentally determined. In forty years, I've only had the betrayal of a woman who loved me to remember humanity by. Now . . . regardless of what happens next . . . I can say that I _did_ experience something new, because of you. And I refuse to become what my mistress became by damning you to see the world as I once did." Falling silent, Lapis realized there was only one thing left to say. "I am truly sorry, Pearl, for having wasted your time."

Pearl stood silent for a long while, considering Lapis with a stony face but flitting eyes, as if Lapis' monologue was a text before her that she was pouring through once more before she could formulate a response. Each second of silence screamed in Lapis' ears, who only wished for the immediate arrival of a decisive parting of ways, remorseful but reluctant to flog herself with the tattered tails of Pearl's trust. Falling in love had proved punishment enough; if she were cursed to watch as the woman she loved walked where she could not follow, she only wished it would happen now, before she dissolved in Pearl's disillusionment altogether.

"You believe the curse can be lifted?" Lapis frowned, baffled and somewhat offended by the simplicity of Pearl's reply. Still, she answered anyway.

"Everything my mistress did was in retaliation to the world around her. I cannot-- will not accept that she would curse me beyond recompense."

Pearl nodded, retreating into her own thoughts a beat more before deciding, "I have really ought to be on my way if I am to make it in time. Or am I too far off?" Lapis' cheeks reddened in flustered anger. She took it back. Pearl's tears were far more welcome than this stoic line of interrogation, each question mark puncturing her like a meat-hook for hanging. It took effort to unclench her jaw long enough to reply.

"I didn't lie about that. We're not far from the kingdom. I can't-" she choked on the emotion of the admittance, the same that Pearl seemed to have no regard for whatsoever, "-can't take you the rest of the way, but I can show you the path on your map."

"Then let us from this lake," Pearl smiled, offering her hand to Lapis, only to have it pushed away as Lapis shoved past her. Teeth gritting to keep the tears at bay, Lapis could hardly hear Pearl's trailing footsteps over the noise of her own buzzing skull. She didn't bother to hold the door open for Pearl as she carved a direct path to Pearl's belongings, pulling the map from her knapsack along with an inkwell and quill. 

"Lapis . . ." Pearl's worried tone did nothing to draw Lapis from her task as she marked on the map the most straightforward path to the kingdom from the lake. "Lapis--"

"What!" Lapis' eyes snapped up sharper than her tone. She knew she had no right to be angry; she had just admitted to intentions of cursing Pearl after all, but she could not help how much it stung to . . . to . . . to seem like someone who could be so easily left behind. She held Pearl's petrified gaze a beat before thrusting the map into Pearl's chest. "That's the way out. Better leave now if you want to make it."

Pearl quickly clutched the map to her chest as Lapis disengaged from her entirely, turning her back. Her hand trembled above her heart. "Lapis, I do not believe you understand, I'm coming back." Lapis' shoulders straightened from their tense hunch, head turning slightly, but not enough for Pearl to see her eyes. Pearl's heart sank as she realized Lapis must be crying. "I swear to you, upon my lute! Or I would, had my ass not made a run for it. You may not be able to leave the forest, but I am, and I know that when Rose -- Queen Rose -- hears of your story, she will do anything to make it right." Lapis turned fully to regard Pearl, hope and disbelief in equal parts behind her watery eyes.

"You would do that? You would do that for me, even after what I've told you?"

"You wanted to be free. I . . . I know the feeling. It is why I left the kingdom in the first place." Tears fell freely from Lapis' eyes now, but she made no attempt to wipe them away or hide her face. Pearl had her full attention. "Rose, she wasn't just my best friend. She was my first love. I thought I was hers, too. Maybe for a brief while I was, but then she met Gregory and . . . everything changed. When I learned they were to be wed, I was devastated. The sight of her brought me to tears. The sight of _him_ made me someone I never want to be again. For the longest time I believed there was a chance that Gregory was just a phase, that he would break her heart or she would lose interest and things would return to the way they were. The night she told me she was with child, I knew that would never be the case. I considered leaving the kingdom that night, but Rose came to me as a friend and confided how very scared she was to bring a new life into the world. She expressed how happy she was to have me by her side through it all . . . and so I made sure she did. I stayed until Steven was one, seeing him smile like Gregory. Laugh like Rose. Every time feeling the mixed emotions of love and wistfulness for what never would be. I knew then I had a choice. Remain prisoner to love lost or to discover who I could be without Rose. I owed it to that innocent baby boy to come back one day and gaze upon him with nothing but love. So I left. I believe you should have the same choice."

Lapis flung her arms so quickly around Pearl's frame that the bard's arms remained pinned between them before she could work them free to hug Lapis back, restoring an equilibrium threatening to topple over.

"I don't deserve you . . ." Lapis murmured, burying her forehead against Pearl's shoulder, tears of joy running freer than she had ever allowed her sadness spill. 

"You don't deserve this," Pearl amended gently, bracing Lapis close with a palm to the back of her head. She would hold Lapis for as long as needed, and then she would run to make up for time lost.


	5. Homecoming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl sets out to fulfill her promise to Lapis by gaining audience with Queen Rose, and her promise to herself to return to Prince Steven with nothing but love in her heart for his birth. But this was not the welcome she was expecting after fifteen years away . . .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I thought on it, and while this was originally meant to be a fairly short Pearlapis-centric story (i.e. ending right about now), many reviewers have expressed their enjoyment of the medieval take. And I am not short on ideas for the universe, admittedly having thought about a number of routes to take it. As of now, nothing is really plotted out. This is the first story where I've sort of said 'eff it, I'm winging it'. This means it will probably be erratically updated as time and ideas come to me. The tone may shift a bit as I shift out of the mindset of a dramatic short piece into a more rounded epic-long fic. I've already had to go back and fix a few continuity errors, as abandoning a story for eight months tends to leave you hazy on the details. But for all the little bumps along the road, I hope everyone can enjoy the fact that the story will be continuing, at this moment, indefinitely. As always, I hope you enjoy!

It was difficult to leave Lapis. Despite her promise and the genuine hope it had brought to Lapis, Pearl recognized apprehension when she saw it. She had worn the expression many a time herself, watching the early interactions between Gregory and Rose, trying hard to ignore the telling signs of something deeper. Lapis was eager to be free, but equally trepid of letting Pearl slip away. She had had four decades to accept her imprisonment. It was the harder thing to let Pearl go.

_What if something were to happen? What if you never return? What if this is the last time-- . . ._ Questions that never carried on the wind, but were repeated ad nauseum in Lapis' body language and the way her eyes followed Pearl's every movement, as if she might disappear suddenly before her with no further warning.

Pearl could not leave Lapis this way, so she left her with something else.

_"The peach pit," Lapis said with some confusion as Pearl pressed the hard, round seed into Lapis' palm._

_"Will you keep it for me? Until I return?" Pearl smiled as Lapis' face lit with realization, fingers closing over the seed to grip the solid promise firmly. The sensation was grounding, the sentiment uplifting._

_"If I don't get hungry," Lapis accepted playfully. "So you better hurry."_

It was easier then, knowing Lapis' humor, and thus her faith in Pearl, was sound.

With Lapis' revisions to her map, Pearl made excellent time, breaking out from the edge of the forest just as dusk was settling in. Even in the dim light, the majestic silhouette of Quartz Kingdom could be seen peaking above the hills and valleys. By nightfall, Pearl had found the beaten path used by trade wagons and travelers alike. With a stroke of luck, perhaps a karmic balancing to her journey's earlier mishaps, such said wagon caught up to her on the road. The horse driver, a kindly man transporting firewood, was more than happy to have Pearl hoist herself up on the wagon's tailgate. She dozed off as the wagon took her the rest of the way, waking only once they had reached the gates to the sound of a less than cordial homecoming.

"Halt! Identify all persons in your company. The drawing of any weapon will be seen as an act of war and retaliated against with deadly force. Present proof of citizenship immediately when approached!" A voice from high upon the wall-walk boomed. 

Pearl scrambled somewhat groggily to the ground, falling in line beside the horse driver, who seemed not at all phased by the procedure. He fished inside his trouser pocket, pulling out a thick minted coin with the approximate diameter of a ripe apple. He held it close to his chest in full view, eyes glancing in Pearl's direction and growing concerned at her empty-handedness. The portcullis rose just enough to allow a fully-armored soldier to duck beneath it before coming down with a thunderous boom. As the soldier approached, the horse driver spoke to Pearl through the side of his mouth, eyes remaining on the menacing man of steel.

"Where's your coin, lass? They'll not let you through without it!"

"Coin?" Pearl's eyes too remained on the soldier, struck with the thought that this could very well be her last sight. Coinless, all she could do was stand and await her fate, all too aware of the arrowheads glinting in the moonlight from the wall above.

The soldier approached just close enough to see the detail in the minting of the man's coin. He nodded to no one in particular before his eyes fell on Pearl, who smiled weakly at his stern disappointment.

"Where's your coin?"

"I'm afraid I . . . I don't quite know what you mean. I have been away for many years, you see--"

"What are your intentions?" the guard interrupted impatiently.

"To-to see the royal family. If I'm not mistaken, it is Prince Steven's birthday, is it not?" The guard's face brightened at this, and for a moment so too did Pearl's before his humor was revealed to be a snarking one as he threw a barking laugh over his shoulder up to the guards behind the battlement.

"Hear that? This battered traveler is here to see the prince with nothing but a wagon full of wood! In the middle of a war!" Laughter echoed his from above. Pearl felt her cheeks blush in embarrassment and anger, but it was the last of what the man had said that stuck in her ear.

"War? There's a war going on?" The laughter doubled and the soldier doubled over, slapping his gauntlet across the knee of his greaves.

"This is either the worst assassination attempt or you must be the newest court fool!" He chuckled as he righted himself, taking Pearl by the arm and leading her clear off the road, simultaneously waving the horse driver and his wagon through. Pearl would wrench her arm free of the brute, but she suspected she'd only hurt herself in the attempt. Still, she glowered and could not help the split-second deviation of her eyes from his to the sword at his side.

"So why don't you tell me who you really are?" The guard's voice dropped just between them as the portcullis rose to admit the wood wagon. A sound of splashing water at Pearl's back momentarily distracted her. When she cast a look behind her, she was surprised to see a rather sizable moat. How had she missed that? It had never been there before. A jostling of her arm brought her back to her very confusing reality and this time she did wrench her arm from his grip, taking a step back for her own comfort.

"You'll excuse me for my ignorance, but as I was trying to explain earlier, I have been long away -- fifteen years, in fact. The last I was here, Quartz Kingdom was a castle whose walls admitted any person of the realm. Now what is this war you speak of? With whom?"

"I'm willing to bet you know more intimately than I do. You're a gutsy one, I'll give you that. Trying to slip through our very front door. If you turn back now, I'll let you live for the laughs you've provided." Pearl had had just about enough.

"Now listen here!" her voice rose as she rocked forward on the balls of her feet, jabbing the soldier's breastplate with a pointed finger. "My name is Pearl, childhood friend of Rose Quartz, godmother to Steven Quartz! Send a message to the keep, because the only way I am removing myself from this spot is by the queen's invitation!" The soldier was momentarily stunned for words, blinking in the face of Pearl's determined ferocity. Though it was a rightly comical sight to see her prodding at his nearly-impervious steel husk, he was no longer laughing at the little lady before him. He cleared his throat and shrugged, reluctant to believe her story.

"On the off chance you're telling the truth, I _suppose_ I can alert the royal family to your presence. Of course, at this time of night, it could be morning before you're seen." He looked Pearl over once more, still in a state of disbelief before he turned and made his way back to the gate. The portcullis opened to receive him and thudded closed behind him, arrowheads atop the wall disappearing, replaced with curious faces who peered down at the curious woman. Pearl made sure to stare directly back at every single one of them, folding her arms across her chest.


End file.
